Meet the Boss: Ahsan Manji, managing director, Weetabix East Africa

Meet the Boss is a How we made it in Africa interview series in which we pose the same 10 questions to business leaders across the continent.

What was your first job?

I started off here at Weetabix as a production manager in 2007. I did everything from actually running the factory to cleaning the floor and packing the product. As a result I know quite a bit about the manufacturing process of Weetabix. I was earning KSh. 30,000 (US$346).

Who has had the biggest impact on your career and why?

There are probably quite a few people. My grandfather Madatally Manji who started off the House of Manji (a food manufacturing company) taught me what it was to have huge ambition, set big goals and do everything possible to achieve them. He taught me a lot about working hard. I think there are members of the team I work with in our UK head office who I treat as mentors; our group CEO and our strategy director have taught me a lot of what I know.

Quote of the Week

"We started the Aga Khan University in Pakistan some 32 years ago and it has grown into a truly international institution, with major campuses in Africa as well as in Asia, and with programmes in many fields. But right at the centre of its mission, from the very start, has been one principle goal: to help ensure the people living in the developing world are able to access international standards of health care."